AIDS patients with Cryptococcus are being misdiagnosed

Scientists in the US have discovered that many Cryptococcus infections are being misdiagnosed in AIDS patients.

A recent study from Duke University Medical Center has found that most AIDS patients diagnosed with a fungal infection called Cryptococcus are assumed to have the neoformans strain of the infection, but a sibling species called gattii could be more common than originally though.

This discovery could have important implications to the treatment strategy of the infection.

Cryptococcal strains are responsible for over 620,000 deaths annually and for one-third of all AIDS deaths so this distinction between species may be of public health importance.

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center found that Cryptococcus gattii was the cause of the Cryptococcus infection in 12 per cent of AIDS patients, much higher than the one per cent originally thought.

"Although the outcome of infection in comparison between the two species remains uncertain, this study shows that we need to carefully control for potential differences and study them further," explained Dr John R Perfect, professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center.